The title of this article comes directly from an article of the same title on NaturalNews. That article, by S.L. Baker, can be read by clicking here. What follows is my commentary based on our recent experiences.
During the process of my wife's pregnancy and the birth of our baby Heidi, we encountered no less than eight medical doctors. Three of them were obstetricians, two were interns/residents (new doctors), two are regular MDs, and one a Naturopath. Because of where we live and my wife's high risk category, our child birth took place in a hospital. While conventional, it was not the way many might envision how the birthing process takes place in a modern facility.
In the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, the Labor and Delivery section is just that: women in labor and delivering babies are there. What's different is that the entire process takes place in a single room (per mother). When we checked into the hospital after Kathy's water had broken, we were given a room in L&D. We never left that room until after our baby was born.
Then we moved down the hallway to another room (with more comfortable beds) for recovery before going home.
This is important because that is a big step forward for the modern birthing process. Not too long ago, it was all surgically-oriented with mothers giving labor in one room, being rushed to an operating-type room for birth, and then another room for recovery. The birthing process was treated like most other illnesses that could be cured with surgery. People wearing masks, gowns, gloves, safety glasses, and pushing around huge carts full of stainless steel equipment are no longer part of the process.
In fact, we had a resident and a regular OB in the room during Heidi's birth. The experienced OB was more a cheerleader than a doctor, excitedly telling my wife when to push, how hard to push, how well she was doing, etc. The resident, who was doing the actual birth, was doing the same, though more concentrated on watching the progress and checking on vitals and other technical things to make sure all was well.
For my part, I was holding my wife's hand and leg and nervous as hell. Then Heidi's head appeared. Seconds later, the whole baby was there and being placed on my wife's stomach. I watched her take her first breath of air and was offered the umbilical to cut.
A couple of minutes later, the new baby was moved to a heat table (a little table with a gentle heat lamp). I helped a nurse wipe the little one down, weigh her, tape on a vital sign monitor (a little red light on her foot), and measure length, head circumfrence, etc. We then watched her breathe for a few minutes and waited for the first scream. That's, apparently, the best way to tell if a baby is going to do well: by how loudly they can cry. No amount of medical technology can replace the baby screaming about how crappy it is to be in the wide world instead of in the comfortable womb, it appears.
Four years ago, some friends of mine had a baby, though that was in a different hospital. Their experience was very different. When baby was born, he was rushed to another room for washing and weighing and whatnot and brought back later. The parents were secondary to the whole procedure and, other than mom's medical needs, were largely ignored in the process.
In contrast, our experience was one where the doctors and nurses wanted us to be involved. I was there to help give Heidi her first bath. Kathy was there to help them administer the baby's hearing test. In fact, during our 2-1/2 days in the hospital, our baby never left our sight. The nurses and doctors prefer it that way now.
During Kathy's pregnancy, we dealt with another obstetrician (OB doctor). He and the one who was there to cheerlead during the birth are from the same clinic where we went for pre-natal care. That doctor asked what kinds of vitamins, supplements, medications, etc. my wife was using during the pregnancy. The usual prenatal vitamins and Omega-3s were expected, of course. Doctors are willing to accept those as "normal."
What he didn't expect was her intake of Flax seed oil for neurological help and development as well as beginning Evening Primrose supplements at week 34 of the pregnancy to help with cervix softening and so forth. The doctor, rather than looking at us as if we'd landed from another planet when we made these claims, instead asked where we'd learned about them and if we had any other information. He was especially interested in Primrose, as he'd never heard of it at all.
I told him what I knew and we showed him the bottle. Of course, thanks to the FDA, it can't say anything about what it's for on the bottle, so that did little but prove to him that it has prostyglantins in it. Those are the magic ingredient for cervical softening – which also appears in male sperm, by the way, hence its name.
The residents who talked with us before, were there during, and checked on us after the birth were both curious about things we were talking about. We refused vaccinations, for instance (at birth, they want to give a Hepatitis B vaccine) and I explained why and the simple explanation of "she just got born, why pump her full of stuff right off the bat and what is Hep B got to do with birth anyway?" was understood.
They were interested in the supplements, how we'd altered our diet, and so forth. One of them asked for my email and has since received several links from me to show him the various information I've gathered over time (much of it on NaturalNews) about alternative medicine for child birth and baby care.
It seems that more and more doctors are beginning to see that there is a lot of validity to many forms of alternative medicine and health care. The problem now is that because there's no money in these things for Big Pharma and related industries, very little scientific study has been done; so convincing doctors of their merits on a universal basis is not likely until that changes.
All in all, though, our experiences with the doctors and nurses involved in pregnancy, birth, and well baby care have been very good. With few exceptions, they've been willing to talk to us about our wishes, are understanding of our reluctance and refusals for some of their conventional medicine, and seem generally accepting of our explanations. Some are even curious about learning more.
Hopefully, this trend continues.
